One type of musical performance involves playing back recorded music and sounds in a new “mix.” The performer is commonly called a disk jockey or DJ.
A disk jockey relies on many tools to create a musical performance. For example, vinyl records may be manipulated on multiple turntables, or multiple compact disks (CDs) may be manipulated, to create a variety of sound effects. The disk jockey may vary the speed, pitch, direction, and sequence of playback and may apply a variety of effects to the played back music.
More recently disk jockeys have been using tools that manipulate audio data stored in data files on computers. Some of these tools have been developed based on the idea of computerizing what is usually done with turntables and vinyl records and CD players. However, the flexibility of the computer enables new tools and techniques to be explored for use in musical performances.